SVTs arrived with some damage from Lever arms.. just normal or?

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ADHDCanuck

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Hey,

I picked up four SVTs (paid extra for hand picked) and a couple of them came with shipping damage.. gouges to the wood stocks.

Before I complained, I just wanted to see if this is the kind of thing you just ignore with milsurp rifles, or what.. because they are otherwise gorgeous showpieces (except for mismatched numbers since I picked refurbs).

They were packed poorly.. some newspaper stuffed in between loosely, not properly wrapped... two to a box with the mag pouches stuffed in among them. The front sling mount busted through the cardboard box on one because the guns weren't even wrapped.

The one rifle (a marine infantry model, with the nice sling mount stock I wanted special) has a three inch long gouge in a very visible part of the butt...deep enough that it carved out a shaving 1mm or so deep. The rifles were laid in the boxes nose to tail and not braced at all.

The usual wear and nicks etc I wasnt concerned with, but thats pretty blatant bad shipping method...

Should I talk to them about it or is it one of those things where you just go "its a $200 rifle, everyone but me considers them throwaways...no matter how beautiful so just forget it"

Dont know if/what they'd do in any case except maybe ship me a replacement stock from their extras pile, or throw me a few bucks in partial refund on that unit.

Or maybe nothing...

Thoughts? Similar Experiences?

I should mention that they were pretty nice, helpful on the phone, very quick to ship... and they met about 75% of my hand pick requirements... i guess you can't get everything you want because these things didnt come in every possible feature combination, and thats cool. Naturally, the pricing was amazing too no complaints there.

But would it kill people to throw a quick foam paper wrap on the protruding parts and maybe use more than a few sheets of newspaper to pack them solid?
 
I would contact them about it. but good luck getting a response, their customer service sucks. I had an SKS come from back east and it has the barrel popping through the end of the box, but not much damage, if any. You can either consider it character or try and get replacements.
 
Since you bought four of them, hand picked, I'd give them a call. They should know how to pack a rifle for shipping, and poor packing should not go without mentioning it to them. Hopefully they will do something for you.
 
Mine were poorly packed like yours, but luckily for me there was no damage. You can complain and rightly so, but what do you expect them to do ?
 
lyman said:
Mine were poorly packed like yours, but luckily for me there was no damage. You can complain and rightly so, but what do you expect them to do ?
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very little, like i said its not like they can repair it and shipping it back for replacement would be silly costwise.

My only ideas would be to send me a new marine infantry stock from their supply of spare parts (for which I would be ok paying a small cost..) or just reimbursing me partially for that rifle to cover the reduced value and pain in the ass of not having it be what they sent.

the other damages are pretty minor, scuff level stuff that i dont think i'm concerned about... but that one is immediately visible and they really should know better.. theyre sending stuff made of soft wood and hard metal, in cardboard boxes.
 
another funny note, upon opening the second box i discovered it was shipped with a yellow olfa boxcutter, with the blade fully extended inside the box with the rifles.

Great service overall, but rushed packing... The only thing on the order they screwed up really was that i got 3 AVT stocks and 1 SVT stock, it was supposed to be the reverse... and there was only one with the machine groove sniper rails.. all were supposed to... but technically the rail grooves are not a part of the hand pick criteria, just a personal request... and those things might not have been possible given the other details i wanted like solid front sling mount and the muzzle break selection.
 
ADHDCanuck said:
My only ideas would be to send me a new marine infantry stock from their supply of spare parts (for which I would be ok paying a small cost..) or just reimbursing me partially for that rifle to cover the reduced value and pain in the ass of not having it be what they sent.
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"reduced value"? You already paid a massively reduced price for these compared to everywhere else and everyone knows it. That line won't get you far in negotiations. Just sayin'. :)

Good luck!
 
Try taking a little ethyl alcohol on a Q-tip and try and blend the shellac into that groove. It might make it be not as visible.

....assuming your negotiations fail. ;)
 
lol thanks for the advice and perspective :)
I know I got a good deal on these.. I'm not really mad.. just disappointed because it was totally avoidable.. and putting something on sale for $80 off is no excuse to be careless and not deliver the product that the customer expects and that you promise.

They're old.. a little beat up is ok... its annoying because it was beat up because of simple avoidable negligence.. not legitimate use..

Hopefully at least it helps them wise up and start packing things a bit better. an extra $2.00 worth of paper and foam strips would have protected me and left me a very satisfied customer. I'd have happily paid that ;)
 
ADHDCanuck said:
lol thanks for the advice and perspective :)
I know I got a good deal on these.. I'm not really mad.. just disappointed because it was totally avoidable.. and putting something on sale for $80 off is no excuse to be careless and not deliver the product that the customer expects and that you promise.

They're old.. a little beat up is ok... its annoying because it was beat up because of simple avoidable negligence.. not legitimate use..

Hopefully at least it helps them wise up and start packing things a bit better. an extra $2.00 worth of paper and foam strips would have protected me and left me a very satisfied customer. I'd have happily paid that ;)
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If it were me, I WOULD contact them...just in case they have a new kid in the warehouse or some such...but be polite and reasonable (as you have been all through the thread)...
Thing is, you might prevent this poor packing job from happening again to the next guy, if nothing else. If no-one complains to the maitre-de that there's a fly in the soup...well...the cook'll keep adding them!

Don't get the salesman/manager's back up - keep him as your ally and together you can blame "those bums down in the warehouse!", and maybe you can catch a break here. But at the very least, you have done your duty as a consumer to let the business know there is a weak link.

Just IMO...
 
it was shipped by canada post, therefore insured for damage, the store should be able to recover the money for you or send you replacements free
 
Mine were packed the same (although not damaged), I'd call up Lever if they were damaged but given their reputation I don't expect them to do much for you.

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DJdeadlyDALEK said:
Mine came with the entire muzzle break and maybe a few extra inches sticking out of the box. I'd call and complain since you spent almost a grand at their store but good luck is all I can say regarding that...
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My Kovrov actually came like that from one of the more reputable dealers on the forum. I wasn't impressed.
 
ADHDCanuck said:
Hey,

I picked up four SVTs (paid extra for hand picked) and a couple of them came with shipping damage.. gouges to the wood stocks.

Before I complained, I just wanted to see if this is the kind of thing you just ignore with milsurp rifles, or what.. because they are otherwise gorgeous showpieces (except for mismatched numbers since I picked refurbs).

They were packed poorly.. some newspaper stuffed in between loosely, not properly wrapped... two to a box with the mag pouches stuffed in among them. The front sling mount busted through the cardboard box on one because the guns weren't even wrapped.

The one rifle (a marine infantry model, with the nice sling mount stock I wanted special) has a three inch long gouge in a very visible part of the butt...deep enough that it carved out a shaving 1mm or so deep. The rifles were laid in the boxes nose to tail and not braced at all.

The usual wear and nicks etc I wasnt concerned with, but thats pretty blatant bad shipping method...

Should I talk to them about it or is it one of those things where you just go "its a $200 rifle, everyone but me considers them throwaways...no matter how beautiful so just forget it"

Dont know if/what they'd do in any case except maybe ship me a replacement stock from their extras pile, or throw me a few bucks in partial refund on that unit.

Or maybe nothing...

Thoughts? Similar Experiences?

I should mention that they were pretty nice, helpful on the phone, very quick to ship... and they met about 75% of my hand pick requirements... i guess you can't get everything you want because these things didnt come in every possible feature combination, and thats cool. Naturally, the pricing was amazing too no complaints there.

But would it kill people to throw a quick foam paper wrap on the protruding parts and maybe use more than a few sheets of newspaper to pack them solid?
Click to expand...

Being in the Vancouver area, and purchasing all of my goods at the store level, I would expect these results from any such mangled offerings:

I would be pi$$ed. I don't expect a wooden armory crate, but at least wrap the protrusions with bubble wrap: Butt of the stock; Sight; magazine; foresight & barrel. Independent parts included. Fill the space with foam peanuts or paper. And, finally, REINFORCE the ends of the box so the barrel/stock can't punch through it! I consider this the *minimum* standard for business shipping. It's called 'class.' If this is a 'hard' standard to attain, charge accordingly. No one expects a free ride. [We] do expect the utmost respect for the product we purchased.

Attain these standards, and receive the same abysmal results, attack the shipper for inadequate handling.
 
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When I collected the box from the PO I knew straight away they were poorly packaged, they were moving about inside the box when I picked it up. I was not happy until I pulled them out, then I was over the moon, two pristine rifles, one a genuine sniper.

If they were advertized as being poorly packaged, at $225 it would still be worth taking the chance.
 
At least try to get them to admit they mis-packaged. Lever has a bad rep... I've been told they're doing better these days, but there's a reason I didn't go to them even when they had the specials.
 
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